A tactical look with a direct mission: raise marlin and serve as a test platform for Grander Custom Tackle. This clear purpose is evident in every aspect of Grander, hull no. 61 from Jarrett Bay Boatworks. The eye-catching walkaround will be based out of the British Virgin Islands, where she will chase billfish – and it won’t take long for her to live up to her name with a thousand-pounder in the spread.
As the Grander team puts it: “This is a billfish-targeted boat design. It isn’t even fair to simply call this a fishing boat. Grander is the ideal marlin machine.”
Engine Room
Accessed through two hatches on the bridge, the large Caterpillar 1,136 hp C18s with ACERT technology take up a majority of the engine room. As expected, the engine room is finished flawlessly, and the rigging and wiring are perfect wherever the eye goes. “We put everything in here that you would expect to find on a 60-footer,” explained Grander’s engineer, who oversaw the entire build process. While space is tight, I had no problems accessing all the necessary switches, valves or filters below. He added, “You’ll also notice that everything on board Grander has double redundancy.”
A Seakeeper 5 gyrostabilizer sat aft on the centerline, a nice addition when fishing in rough seas. The larger 21.5 kW Cat generator — needed to power the Seakeeper — is on the starboard-side just forward of the engines. A Sea Recovery watermaker sat in the same location on the port side.
Performance
Grander stepped out quickly and reached her cruising speed of 30 knots in short order. At this speed, Grander turns 1,600 rpm and burns 58 gph. She accelerated smoothly into the upper rpm ranges, and on the pins, reached 45 knots at 2,350 rpm while burning 118 gph. Although we didn’t have a chance to run her through the inlet, she handled with extreme responsiveness, and I have no doubt she will perform flawlessly in less than ideal conditions offshore given her Jarrett Bay lineage.
Where Grander truly excelled was in reverse: Her hull design allowed the stern to lift slightly, and it didn’t dig in while pushing in reverse at nearly 8 knots. Working from port to starboard as if chasing a greyhounding blue marlin, the boat backed down faster than most could reel.
The Caterpillar Three60 joystick system moved the 46-footer effortlessly.
Designed for close-quarter maneuvering, the system is integrated with both the engines and the oversize bow thruster to assist the captain when docking.
